RMCS Hyperion
Origins The RMCS Hyperion is a highly advanced and unique warship equipped with devastating firepower and insurmountable armour for its size. After Battleship Isis was crippled by the Core in 802 A.S. the Order saw little use in recovering and repairing it, due to their already developing an improved Osiris to better suit their own needs. Howeever, not willing to let the advanced technology within go into Core hands, the RMC (having helped significantly with resources and other boons to the Order during the First Nomad War) was permitted to do whatever they wished with the now drifting wreck of the Isis, on the condition that it did not fall into the wrong hands. As a result, the Isis was towed through a mammoth recovery operation to the moors of Asara Shipyard in Omicron Lost, where it underwent its first of its retrofits. At first, the Isis underwent a rearmament program arming it with standard SRBA-1 "Luna" primary anti capital railguns, as the later coilguns were not yet developed, and older versions of heavy Magnetic Accelerator Cannons. The only other notable was the inclusion of a more stable cloak, as the Isis had a very unstable prototype at the time. The ship itself remained largely unchanged other than the inclusion of a new power grid to sustain the vast energy drawn by the ships heavy Magnetic Accelerator Cannons and of course patching up the hull from various breaches from core anti capital weaponry. The ship remained classed as an Osiris class as the hull itself remained very similar and the only real change was in its armament. The project was considered classified to lower the chances of the Core, who despite not being at war with the RMC at the time were considered a threat, from learning of any technology that might have gone into the warship as well as hopefully ensuring they were unaware of its combat capability. Notably, the original powercore rated for 6 million units was kept, which would plague the ship in its earliest forms. First Assignment The Isis was assigned to Battlegroup Omega midway through 803 A.S, under the command of Commodore Sarah Jackson, as the battlegroup set off to investigate reports of a group of large nomad morphs striking without warning from the vast nebula in the edge of Omicron Zeta. The battlegroup consisted of the Isis, a pair of Sol class battleships and three Centauri class battlecruisers, as well as supporting Proxima destroyers and fighter wings. A recent Ion Storm had left the battlegroups scanners operating at approximately half capacity, with the majority of the warships power being diverted to shields and weaponry to make the most of their weakened power cores in case of a sudden contact with hostile entities, as nomads had been seen to make use of cloaking in the First Nomad War. The battlegroup departed Meskhenet Station and navigated through the asteroids, before emerging into the vast expanse of blank space that makes up the majority of Zeta. They were flying in a line astern formation with the flagship Sol class RMCS Ascension taking the lead. Escorting fighters were deployed as scouts to find any trace of the Nomad force while the primary force stuck together to allow the best chance in case of an ambush. After an hour of searching open space, Master Admiral Jacob Sanders, the man in command of Omega, gave the order for the battlegroup to skim the edge of the Nebula beginning in the north of the system. The fighters were recalled from across the system with the nearest estimated to arrive in 6 minutes. As the battlegroup edged into Sector B2, the scanners of the Isis picked up abnormal amounts of radiation, potentially heralding the arrival of a large Nomad force. The destroyers of the battlegroup broke formation and formed an escort around the larger vessels in anticipation of providing suppression against fighters. The sound inside the battleships was unbearable as the mighty vessels held their MAC cannons at full charge, creating an almost deafening din. The battlegroup turned hard to port to head deeper into B2, before the nebula began to thin. However, before the ships could react to what was in this clearing, the source of the radiation spikes was revealed as several large warships, including a Marduk guardian, decloaked 3km starboard of the battlegroup. Immediately orders were barked by the ships captains to loose a barrage of ferrite projectiles at the new contacts, all the while the twin nomad platforms standing beside an unknown jumphole began peppering the battlegroup with fire. The projectiles loosed by the battleships found their mark as two nomad "cruisers" evaporated into the background of the nebula. Disturbingly, despite being hit by a half dozen rounds the Marduk seemed entirely unphased and fired what would later become known as Annihilators at the battlegroup, severely damaging the battlecruiser Eternity with multiple hull breaches and leaving it little more than a lifeless hulk as its automated flak batteries fired their last against the onslaught of projectiles. Sanders gave the order for the battlegroups firepower to be focussed on the Marduk, however the Isis' comm relay had been hit, causing communication to be limited to shipboard comms only. The Isis pulled away from Omega just as a fresh barrage of MACs was fired with limited success. the Commodore gave the order for power to be restricted to the MAC batteries and the secondary and flak turrets, with the power which would otherwise be dedicated to the primary railguns being redirected to the Isis' cloak generator. After a brief moment, the ship cloaked and disappeared from the battlefield as it drifted alongside the nomad force, slowly moving in to position directly behind the Marduk. The majority of the battlegroups fighter escort had arrived to support and were doing their best to keep Assassin morphs from swarming the now limited capital force, as there were a mere two destroyers left out of the original nine. The battlegroup fired a final barrage at the Marduk, the shots found their mark and miraculously brought down the final layers of its veil. the Commodore seized her chance and ordered her magnetic accelerators to be aimed directly down the middle of the ship as to destroy as much matter as possible as the slugs ripped through the morph. the Isis decloaked and her orders were carried out to the letter, the twin MACs fired from almost point blank range and tore through the vessel, while simultaneously power was restored to the primary armament and the dull continuous roar of the weapons rang through the ship as yet more projectiles were sent into the Marduk. After what felt like an eternity the guardian began to break apart, though these tidings were nullified as the Isis' power core strained and struggled to supply the ships shielding and weaponry. The remaining cruiser morphs as well as a dozen fighters were now turning their attention to exact vengeance on the waning bastion of strength that was the Isis. The ships shield was broken and the newly repaired hull began to take up the strain of the fire. Fortunately, this meant that the largely undamaged Isis could take the fire that the remnant of Omega could not. Recognising the opportunity, Sanders ordered that the Ascension and other remaining forces, just consisting of the other damaged Sol and one battlecruiser, and no destroyer force left, moved in to within 1 km range where they could not miss a shot. The orders were executed and the three remaining cruisers came under fire from both the Isis and the rest of the battlegroup. Two of these cruisers began to break apart whereas the third made an alarming turn while burning its equivalent to a thruster. The morph slammed into the Ascension, creating a massive hull breach, while the morphs 'thruster' still burned until it pushed through the hull of the vessel and broke the mighty ship in two, and killing everybody on board from the force of the impact and the breaches that incurred as a result. There was no time for grief or panic, during the engagement damage control teams had fixed the vital communications relay to get it into a workable state, and Jackson took command sending a signal for the battlegroup to retreat. Having witnessed what just happened, and not exactly having any time to discuss it considering they were still under fire from dozens of smaller morphs, the battlegroup formed up on the Isis and put all power towards shielding and secondary batteries. The remaining warships would return to Omicron Surt to be patched up at Arcadia while the Isis would return once again to Asara in Lost to receive yet more upgrades, while Jackson was promoted to the rank of Admiral for her efforts and tactical awareness. The power core having nearly being the downfall of the ship was well overdue for an upgrade, and as a result one was to be acquired from the Order, based off of their upgraded Osiris carrying a core rated for 7 million, a 16% improvement on the Isis' power core, and as well as this new titanium bulkheads were added to increase the ships resistance to conventional firepower. To double down on survivability, a faster recharging shield was also fitted. As it was now noticeably different with considerably more mass due to the bulkheads fitted, as well as having an armament, power grid, and defences unique from any other Osiris in service with any faction, the ship was finally renamed Hyperion and drafted back in to the RMC force as the flagship of Battlegroup Delta. Operation Winter Contingency The ship would continue to serve in this fashion for another 3 years after its retrofit until 807 A.S. where it would serve alongside battlegroups Delta and Gamma in part of a short but bloody conflict with the Core. The objective was to reach all the way into the Cores home of Omicron Rho and break in to Alabama shipyard and steal plans that had previously been lost in transit to Surt. These plans were vital as they were plans drawn up to replace the now ageing RMC primary and heavy weaponry. Were the Core to keep hold of these plans, they would likely have little trouble in beating the RMC at any range, despite the RMCs superior number of capital vessels. The plan was to breach the Core's substantial defences around Omicron Rho with Battlegroup Alpha, spearheaded by Grand Admiral Gaelon O'Donnell aboard the RMCS Arbiter, before Delta and Gamma broke through into the system itself while the now rebuilt Omega serves as a rear guard ensuring the jumphole back to Omicron Delta remained clear, and Alpha ensured that the Delta side of the same jumphole remained clear. The attack was very much all-or-nothing, as if the mission was not successful or not committed in the first place then the RMC would be very much at a disadvantage and the resources of Surt and Lost would more or less be free reign for the Core to take. Alpha did their job and took the forces around the Rho jumphole by surprise, as before now the RMC had been fighting for the most part defensively, and the signal was sent for the other battlegroups to go through the jump hole. The other side of the jump hole was disturbingly empty, however they did present an opportunity for the RMC forces to organise themselves. The flagship of Gamma, battlecruiser Infinity, lead the battleships in towards Alabama to engage the primary Core defense force. Hyperion escorted by several battlecruisers followed suit coming in from 5km above the battle. As battle ensued, the reason for the Core's lack of resistance became clear. Half a dozen Mako's decloaked behind the RMC forces and began peppering their warships with mortar fire. In response, bomber wings were dispatched to deal with them, however at the cost of leaving many of the Thresher and Bullheads as well as the gunships and gunboats unchallenged as they weaved in between the heavier RMC warships, leaving significant damage in their wake. Jackson gave the order for her battlecruisers to move in with the sole purpose of shielding the Sol's from the lighter ships, as they had little chance in dealing with the lighter ships while outnumbered and outmaneuvered. Simultaneously, the order was also given for the battleships to begin a slow retreat, in order to draw the vast defensive forces away, as well as also try to draw the cruisers into the firing range of Omega's artillery. The Hyperion was left to fend for itself as it entered a broadside with one of the Mako's attempting to flank around the fleet to hit it from its vulnerable flank. The Core ships shields were brought down with primary fire before the Hyperion maneuvered behind it and fired straight its MACs down the spine of the ship, inflicting massive damage and taking it out of the battle. Jackson observed the situation in front of her as two of the eleven Sols were being left behind as they suffered engine damage. The Core's fighters and gunboats swarmed around these two vessels like flies to a lamp. She was left to watch helplessly as one of the battleships nuclear cores went into meltdown, obliterating the other battleship and everything around it. She knew that it had triggered it manually in order to take out the bulk of the Core fighters, but it made her question if all of this was really worth it, watching over a thousand lives extinguished in a heartbeat. She had little time for such sentiment however when an alarm snapped her attention back to the situation at hand. The core forces had been successfully drawn away and were battling with Omega and the remnants of Delta and Gamma. Jackson ordered that the Aegir combat freighters stored in the Hyperions hangar be readied with a full complement of boarding teams, and that all power be directed to weapons in order to cover their approach. The freighters left the ship and sped under cruise speed towards Alabama, as the Hyperion unleashed hell with a bombardment of MAC and primary fire at the few remaining cruisers defending. The ploy was successful as the battleship drew the attention of the cruisers, who's fire took down the ships shields but did not do any significant hull damage. After a gruelling station side battle, the fire teams made it to the data storage and successfully extracted the stolen blueprints. As well as this, plans for a prototype powercore suitable for a Mako class battleship were taken by accident. The fireteams boarded their freighters once again with the package in tow, and escaped back to the Hyperion, which was beginning to come under fire from warships retreating from the main battle around the Omicron Delta jumphole. The Hyperion cloaked as soon as word of the teams arrival reached the bridge, and headed directly for the jumphole. The Ranger forces had suffered heavy damage, but had taken surprisingly few losses, with 8 of the 11 battleships surviving and 13 of 17 battlecruisers, while the Core took a much heavier loss. Many theorize that the Core made a mistake having their battleships engage at as close a range as they did, as it allowed their heavier opponents to strip the Mako's of their shields before annihilating them with close range MAC barrages. After the operation, Admiral Jackson resigned from an active combat role after the battle as she did not wish to witness the horrors of battle first hand, however stayed on Hawthorne Orbital as a strategist. This left the Hyperion without a commander. As the Ranger R&D team on Hawthorne examined the blueprints they had returned, they stumbled upon the stolen Mako power core blueprints. The power core was unsuitable for the Ranger's heavy Sol battleships as their power cores were vastly larger than that of a Mako, however they came to the realisation that with some modifications it would be a perfect fit for the Hyperion, and may also provide a solution for the cancelled "Super MAC" project, which had been abandoned due to the vast reserves of power required at all times. In 809 A.S, the Hyperion was recalled to Asara to undergo yet another refit. The prototype "Infinity" powercore that had been derived from the core design with some modifications to suit the Ranger's needs was ready to be fitted to the ship, with a rating of 12 million units, and it was to undergo rearmament with new "Luna III" primary coilguns, however one of its primary slots on the aft of the ship was to be removed to make way for a third heavy emplacement. It's original MACs were to be replaced with the Super MACs that had been developed in conjunction with the Infinity core, and tailored specifically to work with the Hyperion itself. These weapons would only be suitable for mounting on the Hyperion due to their vast passive draw on the power core. Each Super MAC would take 1 million units to run at all times, essentially lowering the Hyperion's rating to 9 million units for all intensive purposes, while firing the MACs would take 2.5 million units per shot. The new Hyperion quickly became the most expensive and powerful battleship in the RMC's arsenal, and stood as a true testament to their power and resources. It was made the flagship of Battlegroup Alpha, and therefore of all RMC forces, and placed under the direct command of Grand Admiral Gaelon o'Donnell.